Lacking the necessary information for this piece of work, I turned to my 8-year old daughter Hannah for particulars regarding the “Autobots” and the “Decepticons”. Rather than provide me with unverified information, she told me to “Google it” and look for Cartoon Network!
What I ended up learning was the entire history of the “Transformers”(as in the movie), the planet “Cybertron”, the good guys the “Autobots” and the bad guys the “Decepticons”. All this has been “too much information” considering I was just trying to use the term Decepticons to portray certain politicians in the Philippines.
Now I know the logic behind the game show: “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?”
There is no doubt in my mind that we really don’t have such a thing as a political “opposition”. What we have in the Philippines are the “Decepticons”. A bunch of politicians who claim to be oppositionists but don’t even understand the concept or the true meaning of the word. An “Opposition” party is supposed to be a political party operating on a political philosophy, a legislative agenda, and a platform for national development and not deception.
The “Decepticons”of the Philippines on the other hand are “opposed” to anything and anybody except themselves, they are not a party but a mob of politicians gathering together for convenience sake, but remain divided not along party lines but personal interests and political agenda.
Except for their superficial slogans and posturing, they only stand for themselves, not for you and certainly not for me. They have momentary quests and temporary advocacies because they are very trendy, meaning they are opportunistic animals that make use of current social concerns like global warming, domestic abuse, the killing of journalists, or abuse in governance.
The “Decepticons” have deceived us by looking at their enemies so that we won’t pay too much attention to them. But from the looks of it, the “Decepticons” will soon be turning on each other.
* * *
DQ is a “term” that most college student would not want to hear.
But in politics, DQ is a current “in” term in relation to talks about Disqualifying Erap Estrada from the 2010 elections. Several political operators have asked me for inputs regarding the significance of Erap in the 2010 elections. Most of them walked away very disturbed.
For starters, one of the “Unknown” reasons why Erap has ranked very high in popularity surveys is not because of his being a former President or former movie star. What people don’t know is that even when he was incarcerated at the Veterans hospital and later in Tanay, during a time when he had doubts of ever becoming a free man again, Erap Estrada, made it his personal commitment to be the Robinhood to the poor by sending out teams to distribute food, clothing, seeds etc to the less fortunate.
Erap shared and gave during the darkest time of his life. He also made sure that it was a nationwide effort. This went on quietly for about five years before he was finally released and from last I heard, it still continues to this day.
Using this as the background and combining it with his high popularity ratings, any attempt to DQ or disqualify him from participating will cause such a backlash among the impoverished yet who comprise the majority of the population that could lead to civil unrest. On the political side, if Erap is DQ’d, who ever he supports will inherit the votes of Erap, which makes him king maker. To DQ Erap after he wins the election will simply sink the ship of state.
So now “the dark side of the Force” is moving to use another ploy to “Legally- DQ” Erap and from the looks of it, the tactic is to implicate him in the Dacer-Corbito double murder. From the looks of it, everybody wants Erap to once again play the fool and take the fall. Even “Megatron Ping” has gathered up ammunition so that media focus would be on Erap and not on him.
It would take a lot and a solid case to rip out Erap from the hearts and minds of his supporters. Those who want to DQ him should simply go to the Supreme Court and ask them to make the judgment. As they say: “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me”. Erap should let someone else respond to “Megatron Ping’s” baiting and not let himself be used all over again.
As far as the rest of the field is concerned, I am really curious how things wll play out on the “Cojuangco side” of the fence. Need I remind you that Noynoy Aquino is also a Cojuangco on the maternal side, Gilbert Teodoro is a Cojuangco on the maternal side, and Chiz Escudero is a Cojuangco on the political side!
Since the Cojuangcos have settled their family differences several years ago, there will be some serious concerns as to who the Patriarchs will support. Noynoy, Gilbert and Chiz even out in terms of skill. Noynoy would be the unity candidate for the family, Chiz would be the party preference for Danding Cojuangco’s NPC, while Gilbert is still hoping that blood is thicker than water.
But now that Noynoy has the favorable winds of fate. Will it be a case of “my duty to my family ends where my duty to country begins” or will the NPC serenade the Cojuangcos with the Motown tune “where you lead I will follow…anywhere that you want me to…”